JULIE WHISH IS celebrating her first anniversary as Happiness Officer with Uberflip, a cloud-based platform that helps B2B marketers create content experiences.
With a background in recreation and leisure services, Julie had been on the hunt for a culture role for a while, and when she saw this pop up on her search, she thought, “This is literally my dream job.”
“After coming into the office, and meeting with several members of the team I knew this was somewhere I wanted to be,” Julie says. So, what career choices does one have to make along the way to ultimately wind up with the awesome title of Happiness Officer? Julie tells us about the route to success that worked for her.
About five years ago I was working for a student travel company. I loved the company but wasn’t too keen on the customer service role I was in. They asked me how I’d feel if they created a brand new role for me – one where it was my job to make people happy and excited to be at work. I obviously reacted with a resounding YES!
Since then, I’ve learned so much, and company culture and employee engagement has become a true passion for me.
My job can include anything from organising company-wide parties, inclusivity and diversity initiatives, ways our team can give back, and a culture calendar of monthly events around the office.
Since this is the type of role that never sleeps, it can be tough to find time to do it all. I tend to be the type of person who wants to do it all; if someone comes to me with an idea or request I just want to make it happen for them.
I definitely need to be very organised, tap into creative thinking at will and draw on lots of positive energy that can be shared with my colleagues all day, everyday. This role is non-stop, and you need to be the type of person who always thinks of others before yourself.
If you thrive off a fast-paced environment where you are constantly planning, executing and hustling then this could be something you love!
I couldn’t possibly choose one thing – I love it all. I get to come into an amazing office each day, and channel all my time and energy into making people engaged and happy. We’ve always got a lot going on, but I always make sure I hold back a few surprises.
Nothing makes me happier than seeing people’s faces after surprising them with something special. I’m always thinking of our next big idea, and things we can do to make Uberflip the best place to work. Loving your job is a very special thing.
There’s no doubt that this is an incredibly special role to have. I have people reach out to me all the time wondering how I got here and asking for advice on how to land a similar role.
My advice is to always be learning, researching company culture, the companies you’re interested in and showing an interest. Start small and make time to come up with culture ideas and initiatives within your current company to show what you can do and what a difference it can make.
It’s been really exciting to see my role grow and evolve over the past year. I’ve been focusing a lot on employer branding as well as culture initiatives, and they’re things I really love.
In my free time I enjoy blogging, so I try to apply these skills to my job at Uberflip as often as possible. From Instagram to LinkedIn posts, to new blog posts on our culture hub – this is something I love learning about and incorporating into my role. As long as I am in a role where I feel engaged and challenged – that’s where I want to be.
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